MEN STILL FREE

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 7, 3 October 1941, Page 10

MEN STILL FREE

Many N.Z. Soldiers In Crete MAJOR-GENERAL PUTTICK’S OPINION “There is reason to believe that there are a good many men still free iu Crete, aud living iu villages with the inhabitants, who are tough lighters. There are uo exceptions—man, woman or child,” said Major-General E. Puttick, D. 5.0., when replying to a reception given him last night at Hataitai. The gathering, held in the Realm Hall, was sponsored by the Hataitai Municipal Electors’ Association, and every organization iu the district was represented, strong units of the Home Guard and E.P.S. being present. Mrs. Puttick and members of her family were presented with bouquets by Miss Fay Binnie. Mr. H. R. Searle, who presided, said that General Puttick was “no featherbed soldier,” and they had full confidence that under his direction the training and equipment of New Zealand’s men would be very fully and satisfactorily handled. Colonel A. Cowles, speaking particularly on behalf of the R.S.A. and National Military Reserve —95 per cent, of them “old diggers”—described the enthusiasm they had shown in the Hataitai district and said that the full results were not yet visible to the public. He also paid tributes to the E.P.S. unit and the Women’s War Service Auxiliary, saying that the latter was “not all uniform and swank,” and the real extent of its activities would surprise many. Musical honours were accorded General and Mrs. Puttick. He knew, said General Puttick, that the Home Guard and National Military Reserve were doing very useful work. It had not been possible, owing to the general expansion, to give them the equipment they would like. It was not lack of sympathy, but each section of the Forces had to be equipped according to its sphere and importance. Grousing or grumbling would make no difference to the methods of allotment. General Puttick described military operations in Greece aud Crete, saying that the 19th (Wellington) Battalion had annihilated a battalion of infantry and a machine-gun company who had dropped on them by parachute. Songs were given by Mrs. Hardie Boys and Mr. M. Rossiter, the accompanist being Mrs. G. P. Anderson.